I'm already hooked. Is this on Netflix?
9/10 material
Aw, this!
Btw, i watcher Greta, with Isabelle Huppert tonight...It was ok-ish i guess!
Just finished watching this film called Mandy directed by Panos Cosmatos. Described as a psychedelic action horror film. I found it absolutely immense. I've never watched anything quite like it before. I don't even know what I just watched actually, but I knew from the moment I heard my favourite prog rock song Starless by King Crimson play during the opening titles that this was going to be next level. Andrea Riseborough is mesmerizing as Mandy, and Nicolas Cage is Nicolas Cage as Red Miller. He did his thing and it worked so well. Everything is washed over in an almost forever present neon red hue, which was gorgeous, giving the film a haunting, intangible beauty. The world built here is stunning and it's just a shame it's a single movie and two hours spent in it.
Mandy is a revenge tale, I guess you could say to put it most simply. It's got a slow but fascinating start. I was worried actually that it was taking so long to properly get going that it wouldn't be able to fit in everything it needed to do, but it managed just fine. The movie was so perfectly cast, and the director was a genius with the lighting and camera work. In a film with spiky demons riding motorcycles, it's actually the humans that were most twisted, with such foreboding presences. The film has so many startling and cool moments. Also the soundtrack is fantastic. One of the last works from the late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. If you want something crazy and totally unique to watch, I don't think I can suggest better. Mandy is super trippy and beautiful.
Now Ive finally managed to watch it too and I agree with all of your points
one of the most atmospheric and trippy movies Ive ever seen. Love this subtle unsettling feeling of threat that you can feel right from the beginning even when the protagonists still have a peaceful life. This feeling is certainly created by this stunning soundtrack, probably JJ's best work (RIP). Fascinating how this movie at one point turns from an surrealistic arthouse-ish film into a vengence action movie. As if David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino (yes, I see a lot of Tarantinoesque elements in the second part) had a baby. Even Nicholas Cage's typical over-acting suits the movie totally well, cause it is a movie that relies a lot on visual expressions and the power of pictures. Then all those mythological references that I am partly not even able to understand, the display of fragile masculinity and injured pride (refered to the antagonist)... this movie has it all. Moreover in the second part of the movie I actually think youve got two possibilities of interpretation. You can think that all those bizarre happenings and experiences are real within this surrealistic world but you can also think this is the perception of the protagonist as he is consuming drugs and acid and so on while he is on his way to his "final enemy"
What you can miss in this movie is the character writing... you dont get to know a lot about the personalities of Nicholas Cage (no idea what was the protagonist name tbh) and Mandy and how their relationsship is going... but that was just not the focus. The director put the emphasis on atmosphere and aesthetics and he did so well!
